Aqa history 1b tudors resit 2016 exam thread

Hi, couldn't find a thread for this years resit so I thought I'd start one.

Could anyone help me with the structuring of the 24 mark questions, in terms of paragraphs/alternative views?

Thanks =)

Been a while since I did this so take this with a pinch of salt. (Having to look at past papers to jog my memory a bit haha)

Have a look at the wording of the question first of all to decide what your paragraphs are going to consist of. If it's a 'how important was X factor in Y', you'll need to address the factor given in the question in your first paragraph. Pick two other factors that you think were important (or if you think the one in the question was most important, any 2 factors at all - doesn't matter what they are so long as you can argue for and against their importance) to make up the other 2 paragraphs.
In the paragraphs themselves, make a few arguments as to why the factor is important (about 2 or 3), and then at the end maybe 1 or 2 arguments as to why the importance is limited.

For questions that begin with a quote followed up by 'explain why you agree/disagree with this view' it's pretty much the same deal, just the question's worded differently. Take this question from June 2014 (totally not because it's the paper I did ) for example:
"The years between 1541 and 1547 were dominated by the need to protect the succession"
You'd want to tackle the succession in your first paragraph (so stuff like Henry's will etc), and then bring other important factors from that period in for your other 2 paragraphs like foreign policy and maybe religious reform or something like that (you probably have a better idea than me - can you tell it's been 2 years since I covered this ).

More general tips that might help:
- If there's a time period specified in the question make sure everything you use in your argument actually happened within that period.
- Keep your intro short - it's basically a condensed version of your conclusion (e.g. factorthat'smentionedinthequestion was an important factor in deciding X, but Y factor was more important and Z factor was important as well). Keep it to 1 or 2 sentences if you can so you've got the max amount of time to tackle the rest of the question.
- Your conclusion doesn't need to be massive, just provide a condensed version of your overall argument (or just reiterate your intro, but expand on it by providing examples from your paragraphs to back up your claims). Don't introduce any new arguments in your conclusion because apparently it'll look like an afterthought to the examiner.
- If you need to use info from sources in your answer, by all means take quotes/make references from them to back up arguments (just make sure to explain why it's relevant). Try to use all sources at least once, and maybe at least once for each factor (check with your teacher on this one to be sure).
- Make use of traditional vs revised views - you'll probably have learned a few in class and examiners love it when you bring in historian's views. If you use one in your argument for, you can use the opposing view in your argument against, which saves a bit of work. As with the quotes though, make sure you qualify it in your argument.
- When you start a new paragraph, try to link it to your previous one in the opening sentence (e.g. While X factor was important for A, without Y factor B couldn't have happened). Just ties the whole thing together so it flows nicely.

Don't panic too much about all the general tips, just take them into account and do (or at least plan out) a few practice questions. Self mark them and/or show them to your teacher to see how you're doing, and ask for some advice from your teacher as well.

Sorry about the essay, but hopefully this helps Feel free to ask if there's any other questions you've got or if something I've put doesn't make sense (which is more than likely tbh). Good luck with everything!